elderly advice Archives - Deckchair Care

March 7, 2019March 7, 2019

Rise in Fraudsters Making Fake HMRC Calls

Victims of phone scams can often be older or more vulnerable.

An increasing number of scammers are using landline phone calls to con people out of money.

HM Revenue and Customs said it received 60,000 reports of phone scams in the six months to January 2019 – up 360% compared with the previous six months.

The best advice is always be suspicious of cold calls. End the call and contact the company or government department separately using a phone number taken from a piece of official correspondence or their website.

Helping the Elderly Avoid Hoax Calls

HMRC said criminals were turning to more traditional scams such as cold calling publicly available phone numbers such as landlines.

It said it had worked with Ofcom to shut down nearly 450 lines being used by scammers in the past year.

Very often fraudsters threatens legal action, to put people in jail, or ask for payment using vouchers.

Simply hang-up and report it to HMRC who can work to take them off the network.

HMRC said it would only ever call and ask for a payment if that person was already aware of. Simply hang up and call back using a number from a correspondence.

In summary, don’t assume people are who they say they are.

About Deckchair Care

Deckchair Care are an independent, privately-owned care agency. We look after the elderly in Cheshire and South Manchester.

Triple lock delivers £220 for pensioners

Pensioners will enjoy a weekly increase in their pension from £164.35 to £168.60 next year (£220pa),

The state pension is expected to rise by 2.6pc from April next year, although this is below the 3pc increase enjoyed in 2017/18.

As inflation is currently below expectations at 2.4pc (September 2018), the increase is still more than the rising cost of living.

The state pension triple lock means it will rise every year by inflation, 2.5pc or average earnings – whichever is higher.

Read more about the pension increase here.

About Deckchair Care

Deckchair Care is a care company helping to look after the elderly in Cheshire. Read more about our independent care service on our website here.

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018

Helping the Elderly Avoid Hoax Calls

Whilst at a clients house recently we answered a call from someone claiming to be from BT.

They said that our clients “IP address” had been hacked and that they needed to complete a security process so things could be rectified.

Obviously this is absolute nonsense, but when said convincingly could have even experienced IT professionals wondering how that could be possible and why anyone would do it.

The caller included all the usual techniques to persuade people into giving over personal information:

Reputation – Calling from a wellknown brand – in this case it was BT.
Worry – You are in danger of losing something (money / access to services).
Urgency – act fast (usually in the next 20 minutes) to avoid a bad situation becoming worse.

Common hoax calls could be from Banks, internet/telecoms suppliers, utilities, insurers, tv licence, post office. In general any service that most people would be expected to have.

The caller usually won’t know who the supplier is, but they might just get lucky. BT supplying broadband sounds very credible if that is who actually provides the service. However, a Virgin customer will quickly expose the scam. Don’t confirm who the supplier is – this is valuable information and may be used in future attempts!

Identify Fake Hoax Calls

Where are the calls from? Withheld numbers, out of area or international numbers in fact any number not recognised should be assumed to be a scammer. Don’t give out or confirm any information.
Be alert if any asks you to complete a security process or requests any personal information.

What to do on a suspected a hoax call

Thank the caller for making you aware of the issue and say you will call them back, and hang up. Do not answer the phone again if they call back.

If worried that the call is be real, find the callers number via their website / letter head / phone book and call their customer services. DO NOT USE any number that you were given on a call.

Minimise the chances of receiving hoax calls

Go ex-directory. This will reduce the chances of scammers getting hold of a phone number.
Add your phone number to the TPS. This won’t stop scammers – who are happy to break the law – but it will reduce the number of general marketing calls. This makes hoax calls easier to recognise.
Reject all withheld numbers. A phone line supplier may be able to do this for free, or there are phones that can filter potential hoax calls.

Help the elderly avoid becoming hoax call victims. Make them aware of what a hoax call looks like. What to do if they suspect they get one and how to minimise the chances of getting them in the first place.

Find out more about Deckchair Care and how we help the elderly with our at-home service.